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Mini-Review: Sonic Classic Collection

This article was originally published at Kombo.com on March 15, 2010.

It's sometimes difficult to accept that there are young fans of Sonic the Hedgehog who have never actually played the character's original Sega Genesis adventures. For these children, Sonic sprang into existence with titles such as Sonic Heroes, Sonic Advance, and Sonic Rush. Despite the fact that Sega has re-released their flagship character's early adventures in compilations such as Sonic Mega Collection, Sega Genesis Collection, and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, the holy quartet of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles (and the various lock-on technology combinations therein) have never turned up in a single collection for a handheld system until now with the Nintendo DS release of Sonic Classic Collection. Bundling the aforementioned games together on a single game card, Sega aims to introduce the blue blur to a new generation in preparation for the upcoming Genesis-imitating Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Assuming that most readers have played a classic Sonic game before, there's no need to recap Dr. Robotnik's scheme to gather the Chaos Emeralds to power his Death Egg, nor should the concepts of spin dashes and collecting rings need additional explanation. Instead, the technical side of the Collection needs a closer look. Worth noting right up front is the fact that the games found in the Collection are not ports of the original Genesis titles, but are actually emulated using a properly licensed, legitimate, and slightly updated version of the jEnesisDS emulator that homebrew aficionados have been using for a while now. Emulating the games avoids the embarrassing results of half-assed ports like the Game Boy Advance title Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, but introduces a few new quirks and changes that long-time Sonic fans will notice right away, while those who have never played the original games will likely remain unaware of any tinkering. Overall, this compilation presents a mostly faithful handheld version of the original classics perfect for new players and returning speedsters alike.

Power Button Presents Kombo Breaker - Episode 25: Controlled Response

This week's classic episode of Kombo Breaker dates back to April 24, 2009 and features a clearing of the air as Dan Johnson, Joey Davidson, Brad Hilderbrand, and I settle a few issues that had been building up over the previous weeks.  The heart of the first segment revolves around a debate on control stick placement on video game controllers, but there's also time for Brad to share in the pain of Lux-Pain as I shake my head in disappointment at Sonic Unleashed's extra downloadable content challenges. Peggle addiction shows itself once again and Joey revisits Outrun and explores Killzone 2, too.  Oh, and I also brag about getting tickets to see the then-upcoming The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien while in Los Angeles for E3 that year.  After the break we come back to discuss Stephen Totilo's jump from MTV Multiplayer to Kotaku that was big news in the game journalism business that week. Will that work out well for him?  Yes, I think it will.  Then before all is said and done we beg Harmonix to add a keyboard to Rock Band.  That also worked out well in the end.  Join us for eighty minutes of flashback fun.  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, or subscribe via iTunes, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach all three of us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow all of us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons, @aubradley84, and @JoeyDavidson or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton.

Power Button Presents Kombo Breaker - Episode 25: Controlled Response

Search For These Lost Gaming Gems

Retro gaming is all the rage in this era of digital distribution, but while famous games such as Super Mario Bros., Mega Man 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog have popped up in several places in different forms once again, there are some video games that are doomed to remain in the vault for complicated copyright or licensing issues.  GamesRadar offers up a list of ten games worth your time that are hard to find and explains why you'll probably never see fun titles such as Uniracers ever again.

Before Rockstar North was known primarily for the Grand Theft Auto series, it went by another name: DMA Design. It was already making awesome games, though. Uniracers, for example, is by far the best side-scrolling racing and stunt game featuring unicycles ever to be released for the Super Nintendo.  The game already feels pretty fast, but doing tricks in midair gives you a speed boost if you land them, so you’re constantly encouraged to flip like a madman (or madunicycle). This can get really tricky when the tracks are throwing you crazy loops and constantly changing which direction you’re supposed to be going. You could play split-screen with a second player or even set up an eight-player tournament, making it a fast and fun party game.

So why aren’t we still playing Uniracers every day? Because back in 1987, Pixar released a four-minute-long short film called Red’s Dream, which starred an autonomous, computer-generated unicycle. Apparently this gave Pixar the idea that any later appearance of a rider-less CG unicycle was stealing its concept, and it sued DMA Design shortly after Uniracers was released. Unfortunately, the court sided with Pixar, forcing Nintendo to stop production on copies of the game and ensuring we’ll never see it again. So next time you’re thanking John Lasseter for directing Toy Story, take a moment to curse him for indirectly taking Uniracers out of the world.

Other games of interest on the list include perennial fan favorites such as Mega Man Legends and EarthBound.  The stunning thing about all of this is that most of the games in the spotlight here have been rereleased in Japan where apparently copyright laws are weaker, lawyers are smarter, or sales expectations are more realistic.  Mega Man Legends and EarthBound have both been brought back there in recent years (for the Sony PlayStation Portable and Game Boy Advance respectively), as has NiGHTS: Into Dreams (as a PlayStation 2 port).  None of those saw the light of day elsewhere.  If that's not a shameable offense, then it really should be.

Whatever Happened To The Rare Of Tomorrow?

Microsoft swooping in to buy Nintendo's prized secret weapon, developer Rare, for an awful lot of money seems like it happened a lifetime ago now.  Part of that has to do with the passage of time, sure, but I bet that for most of us who remember the company's fantastic Super NES and Nintendo 64 catalog, that feeling comes from the lack of stellar Rare releases since the company joined the world of the Xbox.  Just what happened over there in Twycross that stifled the creative environment that the company enjoyed in the 1990s?  Who killed Rare?  Eurogamer presents and intriguing and interesting answer to that very question.  It all begins with a bonsai tree.

Through a locked gate, down a winding path and by a still pond a few miles outside of the leafy village of Twycross, England, a bonsai tree stands. It was a gift given to Rare by Shigeru Miyamoto, the most famous game designer in the world, as a thank-you for the game developer's critical and commercial success in creating games for Nintendo, the most famous game maker in the world.

For Rare's staff arriving to work at 8:30 sharp each morning, it has served as a reminder of the company's heritage, of who they are, of how lucky they are to be a part of something so admired, so rare. An unassuming trophy of past glories, it's also an inspiration for future goals, a symbol carefully cultivated to weather trends, transcend fashions; rooted, a gnarly resolution.

On 20th of September 2002, Microsoft paid $375 million for this bonsai tree and all that it symbolised: creative excellence, technical mastery, innovation, originality, soul and the precious fingerprints of Nintendo. The fledgling Microsoft Game Studios, desperate to acquire world-class talent that could help establish its game console, saw in that tree everything it desired to become.

10 years later and Bill Gates is yet to plant a bonsai tree in Rare's once-fertile grounds.

In that time Rare's critical and commercial success has tumbled, the studio's games struggling to live up to their creator's name. Two years after the acquisition, Chris and Tim Stamper, the brothers who founded the company in 1982, departed into "exploring new opportunities" obscurity. Faithful fans became disillusioned while, apart form a couple of notable exceptions, the developer's new, scattershot directions have failed to inspire loyalty or passion in the next generation of players and the next again.

What went wrong? And who - or perhaps what - is to blame?

When I read about the sale a decade ago, I immediately had a sinking feeling that a clash of corporate cultures and the lack of Nintendo's guiding hand would leave Microsoft holding the bag, as it were.  The developer that once brought us imaginative characters like Diddy Kong, Joanna Dark, and Banjo as well as innovative uses of technology has instead been reduced to cranking out lackluster Kinect titles and other material that the core Xbox 360 audience hasn't really seemed to have requested.  Ten years ago I had assumed that Microsoft would gut Rare, take the aspects of the company that it wanted for its other enterprises, and then sell or outright close what was the left.  Considering that the video game industry is one that loves to swallow up studios and dismantle them, I am genuinely impressed that Microsoft has kept Rare around even if it is a shell of its former self. 

Zero Takes Mega Man X3 By Storm

Capcom's Mega Man X series grew throughout the 1990s to allow for more playable characters. While the first two games in the series only gave us Mega Man X himself as the sole controllable protagonist, the third installment finally let players take X's partner in Maverick hunting, Zero, for little test drives. Zero could be summoned once per stage, but could not fight any of the game's sub-bosses (save one) or Mavericks, could not pass through more than one-third of any given stage, could not access any of X's special upgrades, and only had one life. If a player accidentally dropped Zero onto a bed of spikes three seconds after calling for him in the second stage of the game, then he was out for the remainder of the adventure. Playing as Zero was pretty awesome in Mega Man X3, but the many limitations placed on him were not. Later games in the series brought Zero in as a spotlight hero with all of the powers and abilities granted to X himself.  Now thanks to a hack for the Super NES version of X3 from Justin3009, it's possible to let Zero spread his metaphorical wings, shatter Capcom's handcuffs, and tackle the game from start to finish without the usual restrictions. Here's some of what you can expect in this alteration:

• Play as Zero anytime except areas where he's unavailable such as the introduction stage.
• Zero is able to use sub-weapons.
• Zero is able to air-dash.
• Zero can scroll through sub-weapons with any method.
• Zero is able to gather Heart Tanks, Energy Tanks and Ride Armor chips. He's able to fill sub-weapons and energy tanks while also able to use them.
• Zero can use Ride Armors.
• Slightly updated dialogue to reflect both characters being playable.
• Zero can use Capsule upgrades to a certain extent.
• Zero has 4 more health pieces than X.
• Zero has new animations for charged Triad Thunder, Ray Shot & Gravity Well.  There's a new damage animation when you've obtained the armor capsule.
• X and Zero are swapped during events. If you're Zero, X will appear, vice versa. If Zero is destroyed for the ending then Doppler will take his place.
• Energy Tanks work like [Mega Man Zero]. If you're full health during a sub-tank use, it will stop healing.
• The game remembers who you played as last after you've beaten a level or died.
• Character select on Stage Select screen.  The Giant "X" at top center is the character select.  Buster noise for X and a Sabre noise for Zero.
• Golden Armor is savable.

I love seeing creative fans tinker with classic games to make them new all over again.  The more talented ROM hackers have some intriguing ideas and it's great to see them come to life.  I've long since seen everything that Mega Man X3 has to offer, but being able to go back to a game that I know very well and find a new set of challenges really is a breath of fresh air.  Emulation is the only way to play this hack and of course it isn't endorsed by Capcom, but it's still a worthwhile undertaking.  Take a look at Zero in action and tell me that you wouldn't kick Capcom a few dollars if this version of the game turned up in an official capacity on the download service of your choice.

(image via The Mega Man Network)

Dead Resident Evil For Game Boy Color Resurrected

With all of the Resident Evil games scheduled to release this year, why not add one more to the stack?  While the original Resident Evil scored big on the Sony PlayStation, Capcom had interest in taking the property to other platforms.  We've seen remakes and ports of the game for the Sega Saturn, Windows, Nintendo GameCube, and more, but one iteration of the game that was lost in the shuffle is the Game Boy Color.  Created by HotGen, this scaled-down version of the PS1 classic reached the 90% complete point before Capcom shelved the project.  The dead game has been reanimated now, however, thanks to an anonymous collector and a bunch of Resident Evil fans that all kicked in the money needed to pay the collector's price.  Two near-complete versions of the GBC game are now floating around out there in the murky digital underground.  Take a look at the game in action if emulation isn't your style:

Judging the game based on appearances, I think Capcom made the correct decision to terminate development.  This version of Resident Evil comes across as more of a "because we can" indie art project more than an actual Capcom-sponsored production.  Turning PS1 and Nintendo 64 games of the era into Game Boy Color titles was something of a fad at the time (consider the handheld versions of Metal Gear Solid and Perfect Dark, for instance) and the end results were never pretty.  While I'm glad to see a little lost piece of Resident Evil history resurface, I don't think we missed out on anything major when this project was cancelled.

Unlicensed Mario And Luigi Appearance #2312

While Mario and Luigi belong to Nintendo, they sure do get around.  We've seen the pair of plumbers serving us unauthorized mascots for all kinds of non-Nintendo commercial services over the years, and now my girlfriend has spotted one instance in the wild while traveling around.  Seen in the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant, here we find the duo representing Luigi Lagrange Construction.  Mario comes to us from the artwork from the Paper Mario series (note how his hat sports the L of his brother rather than his own M) and, in a horrible clash of style, Luigi represents the Mario & Luigi series.  If you're going to "borrow" famous characters to serve as your own mascots, at least keep the art style consistent between them.  Personally, I'd suggest ditching Mario altogether here and drawing on some Luigi imagery from the Mario Party series.  Nintendo has created some great character art of him in all kinds of at-work poses to promote those games.  Just a thought (and don't tell Nintendo's lawyers!).

EarthBound Journal Scrapbooks Across Eagleland

Plenty of people in the video gaming community have gone on and on about Nintendo's EarthBound for the Super NES, and for good reason: it's spectacular.  It's also really hard to find now outside of Japan unless you want to spend a lot of money, so if you're curious about this whole EarthBound thing and want to get a feel for the story, here's your chance.  Created by Armand K., The EarthBound Journal chronicles the story of the 1994 RPG in scrapbook form as written by the characters themselves.

Having finally played Nintendo’s classic game Earthbound (Mother 2) earlier this year, I was compelled to create some art inspired by the game and the joy it brought me. After many, many hours (150+), I give you The Earthbound Journal. It’s meant to be a journal written by the four heroes from the game, recounting their adventures through commentary and imagery. Basically, it’s Paula’s scrapbooking project.

The journal mostly sticks to the established storyline, although it takes a few creative liberties here and there to flesh out some details (not to mention the surprising plot twist at the end).  It's an interesting art project and worth a peek.  Now, is this the part of the article where I'm supposed to implore Nintendo to offer Mother 3 as a downloadable title for the Nintendo 3DS?  Because I'm still very interested in doing that.

(via MetaFilter)

Game Boy Glaucoma And Other Problems

There's nothing like a well-built video game system, but even the most beloved and famous pieces of hardware are subject to weaknesses.  Some are more glaring than others.  Pins were out, screens lose their pixels, joysticks snap off, and lasers lose their ability to lase.  Over at Topless Robot, Shaun Clayton has a list of ten of the most common hardware failures of video game consoles and handhelds both past and present.  For instance, consider Nintendo's original Game Boy and how, over time, its screen degrades:

The Game Boy came onto the scene in the late 1980s, and essentially established the firm pylons of portable gaming that Nintendo clings to this day. Still, it had one slight problem - over time, the screen edges would start losing pixels, or having garbled pixels, and eventually the view space grew narrower and narrower, like a digital glaucoma. Apparently one of the cables would just start wearing out and begin losing the connection. It wasn't a huge problem for Nintendo as they had released successive Game Boy models by the time massive failures started to arrive; still, a Game Boy with a good screen after three years is a small miracle.

I can vouch for that one.  I still have my original Game Boy from 1989, but it's not like I can see anything on its screen anymore.  The darkness began to close in in 1995 and steadily grew worse over time until, eventually, only the middle third of the screen had enough active pixels to show what was happening.  As it turns out, it's very difficult to play Donkey Kong Land when one cannot see what's coming up ahead.  The solution was to buy a used Game Boy Advance SP that will play my old Game Boy cartridges with a clarity not thought possible by my eight-year-old self.  I still hang on to the increasingly faceless Game Boy though.  There's a lot of memories and a lot of miles in that little plastic brick.

Free February Club Nintendo Games Are Pitiful

Nintendo's Club Nintendo loyalty program began offering free games in its catalog of reward options back in December of last year.  For a mere 100 or 150 Coins, members can download several of Nintendo's top digitally distributed titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Super Mario Kart, and Kirby's Dream Land.  So far the offerings have been solid titles and fans have been eagerly awaiting to see what the next selection of games will bring.  Now that February is here, it looks like the program is taking the month off in spirit if not in practice.  Here's what your hard-earned virtual currency can buy this month:

• Mario Party 2 (Wii; 150 Coins)
• Art Academy: First Semester (3DS, 150 Coins)

Well, that's... underwhelming.  I can understand putting Mario Party 2 in the lineup this month in order to cross-promote the upcoming Mario Party 9 for the Wii, but I don't think anyone was clamoring for Art Academy.  Moreover, why are there only two games from which to choose this month instead of the usual four?  I feel bad for looking a gift horse in the mouth and all that, but this month's selection is pitiful.  I wonder if perhaps people were redeeming more game vouchers than Nintendo expected and the company decided to cut back a bit.  Here's hoping that February's titles are an anomaly and not the new standard.